This invention relates generally to art supplies, and more particularly to templates for designing layouts for scrapbook pages.
Template stencils are well-known in the art as guides for artists who seek to draw or cut pre-determined shapes. A template usually comprises a semi-rigid piece of plastic, having a small thickness. The face of the template can have a variety of different voids or cut-outs. The interior cut-outs are given their shape by the interior edges of the template, which guide the writing instrument of a user along the path proscribed by the edge of the template. The template is placed upon a sheet desired to be drawn upon (hereinafter xe2x80x9ca design pagexe2x80x9d). The user draws along the interior edges of the template and a drawn line is created on the design page coinciding with the shape or pattern which the interior edge of the template possessed.
It is typically a desired attribute of a stencil template to provide, without increasing the relative size of a stencil template, the greatest variety of shapes possible for the user. An increase in efficiency will exist if a single stencil template can provide a user with numerous shapes and patterns to implement. Therefore, as much of the template as possible should consist of interior edges for the user to be guided by. However, the stencil must also retain its semi-rigidity so as not to be easily broken during normal usage and not to have its interior edges deflect, and thereby cause the writing instrument to deviate from the edge""s proscribed path, if the user""s writing instrument pushes against the edge during usage. Therefore, a balance must be struck to provide the user with the maximum number of edges which define shapes or patterns while still retaining the semi-rigidity of the template.
Prior art templates usually provide interior edges that define various designs. The designs are typically configured on the template so as to require a user to reposition the template on the transfer surface in order to align various shapes. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 1,633,163 to S. P. Crouse discloses a drafting implement for those desiring to make diagrammatic sketches of localities, such as intersecting streets, the location of tracks and buildings, as well as the location of manholes, posts, obstructions, etc. The interior edges which guide the drafting implement of the user are configured such that the template must be repositioned each time a new object is desired to be sketched.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,334,913 to Eisenberg discloses a corner and border making stencil for mounting pictures. The stencil is rectangular in shape and has obliquely directed strip portions extending across the inside corners. These obliquely directed strip portions are positioned for guiding the cutting of slits across an album page. A user can then mount a picture by its corners by inserting the corners of the picture through the cut slits.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,984 to J. V. Palmer discloses a template for picture framing mats, that locates the interior corners of equal or mixed width margin picture mats. The template has a V-shaped notch that mates with the corner of the mat. The template also has a plurality of perforations that receive pins for marking the mat. Once the mat has been marked with pinholes, the pins and the template are removed from the mat and the interior edges of the mat may be drawn and then cut. Alternatively, once the pins and the template have been removed, another drafting implement with a long, straight edge may be lined up with the pinholes to guide a cutting implement.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,557,463 to C. R. Perry et al. discloses a loose leaf stencil folder for layout design, having a loose leaf binder that folds out to three binder elements. Each binder element has stencil templates of various shapes and sizes held in the binder by hinges or rings. A user may selectively fold any of the stencil templates over a drawing board and draw the shape defined by the stencil onto the drawing board. Thus, a user often repositions a template or else removes and replaces one template with another.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,939 to Pullen discloses a template for marking or cutting a shaped corner on a workpiece. The template has a series of different shaped corner templates that attaches to a main body portion. The main body portion also has side edges which abut the edges of a workpiece, allowing the corner template to be positioned on the corner of the workpiece and to be used as a guide for marking or cutting the corner.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,020 to Neblett discloses a template for marking a picture mat in preparation for cutting the mat. The template has two planar arms having graduation lines that when lined up with the edges of the mat permit layout marks to be traced to the mat from the inside edge of the template. Various decorative corners may be cut in the mat by aligning the template in several different positions and by marking and cutting the mat accordingly
However, the devices disclosed by these references require a user to re-position the template when arranging a layout on a design page. Thus, there exists a need for an improved template.
According to one embodiment, the present invention relates to a template for guiding an implement on a design page, such as a sheet of paper or scrapbook page. The template has a first plurality of interior edges defining shapes, a second plurality of interior edges defining borders around the shapes, and, in another embodiment, a third plurality of interior edges defining slots. The first, second and third pluralities of interior edges are configured on the template so as to provide a layout which can be transferred to the design page. According to one embodiment of the invention, the interior edges are configured so as to provide a layout that can be transferred to the design page without repositioning the template. The layout is employed, according to one embodiment, to arrange display objects, such as photographic or hand-drawn pictures, on the design page.
Preferably, the first plurality of interior edges are employed to draw a line on the display object in the shape defined thereby. The drawn line can then be used to guide a cutting implement, such as a pair of scissors or a knife, to crop the display object (e.g.xe2x80x94trim the photograph or picture) into the desired shape. The second plurality of interior edges that define borders around the shapes are ideally configured to guide an implement so as to create decorative pen lines around the shaped display object, but preferably, are also configured to guide an implement so as to form one or more mats for the shaped display object. Furthermore, in one embodiment, the slots defined by the third plurality of interior edges are employed to guide a user in writing captions corresponding to the display objects that are arranged on the design page according to the transferred layout.
Additionally, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the template has outer edges and corners which may also be employed to transfer decorative designs to the edges and corners of the design page. According to one embodiment, the implement guided by the template is a writing implement, such as a pen, which is employed by a user to draw the layout of the template onto the design page.